In this work, we develop a new method to design energy minimum low-thrust missions (L2-minimization). In the Circular Restricted Three Body Problem, the knowledge of invariant manifolds helps us initialize an indirect method solving a transfer mission between periodic Lyapunov orbits. Indeed, using the PMP, the optimal control problem is solved using Newton-like algorithms finding the zero of a shooting function. To compute a Lyapunov to Lyapunov mission, we first compute an admissible trajectory using a heteroclinic orbit between the two periodic orbits. It is then used to initialize a multiple shooting method in order to release the constraint. We finally optimize the terminal points on the periodic orbits. Moreover, we use continuation methods on position and on thrust, in order to gain robustness. A more general Halo to Halo mission, with different energies, is computed in the last section without heteroclinic orbits but using invariant manifolds to initialize shooting methods with a similar approach.

In this work, a new robust and fast method is developed to perform transfers that minimize fuel consumption between two invariant manifolds of periodic orbits in the circular restricted three-body problem. The method starts with an impulse transfer between two invariant manifolds to build an optimal control problem. This allows to choose an adequate fixed transfer time. Using the Pontryagin maximum principle, the resolution of the problem is formulated as that of finding the zero of a shooting function (indirect method). The algorithm couples different kinds of continuations (on cost, final state, and thrust) to improve robustness and to initialize the solver. The efficiency of the method is illustrated with numerical examples. Finally, the influence of the transfer time is studied numerically thanks to a continuation on this parameter, and it checks that, when transfer duration goes to zero, the control converges to the impulse transfer that it started with. It shows the robustness of the method and establishes a mathematical link between the two problems. Read More: https://arc.aiaa.org/doi/10.2514/1.G002922

The first objective of this work is to understand the dynamical properties of the circular restricted three body problem in order to use them to design low consumption missions for spacecrafts with a low thrust engine. A fundamental property is the existence of invariant manifolds associated with periodic orbits around Lagrange points. Following the Interplanetary Transport Network concept, invariant manifolds are very useful to design spacecraft missions because they are gravitational currents. A large part of this work is devoted to designing a numerical method that performs an optimal transfer between invariant manifolds. The cost we want to minimize is the $L^{1}$-norm of the control which is equivalent to minimizing the consumption of the engines. We also consider the $L^{2}$-norm of the control which is easier to minimize numerically. The numerical methods are indirect ones coupled with different continuations on the thrust, on the cost, and on the final state, to provide robustness. These methods are based on the application of the Pontryagin Maximum Principal. The algorithms developed in this work allow for the design of real life missions such as missions between the realms of libration points. The basic idea is to initialize a multiple shooting method with an admissible trajectory that contains controlled parts (local transfers) and uncontrolled parts following the natural dynamics (invariant manifolds). The methods developed here are efficient and fast (less than a few minutes to obtain the whole optimal trajectory). Finally, we develop a hybrid method, with both direct and indirect methods, to adjust the position of the matching points on the invariant manifolds for missions with large energy gaps. The gradient of the value function is given by the values of the costates at the matching points and does not require any additional computation. Hence, the implementation of the gradient descent is easy.